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Indiana Rep. Mark Souder is peppering his district with television advertisements in an effort to fend off a Republican primary challenge from wealthy auto dealer Bob Thomas, who has been hammering the incumbent for his vote in favor of the Wall Street bailout and tagging him as a liberal Republican.

Souder's advertising comes as a direct rebuttal to Thomas's commercials, which have shown the incumbent alongside pictures of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, mocking Souder as "Mr. Career Politician."

"Bob Thomas is trying to claim like I'm Nancy Pelosi or Charlie Rangel," Souder says in one of his spots, noting that he has received near-perfect ratings from the Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Rifle Association. "Hey, I didn't even know it was legal to be to the right of me."

In another spot, Souder accuses Thomas, who has poured over $200,000 of his own money into the race, of trying to buy the seat.

"Bob, there are some things money can't buy," Souder says in the commercial.

Buyable or not, the race appears to be competitive: an automated poll commissioned by the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics showed Souder hanging on to 35 percent of the primary vote, compared with 29 percent for Thomas and 19 percent for attorney Phil Troyer. The survey, released this week, was taken from April 22-26 with a sample size of 400.

Souder's clearly sweating the challenge, and told Indiana political columnist Brian Howey this week that the heavy barrage from Thomas has encouraged him to retire at the end of his next term – if he wins one.

"I was thinking this was going to be my last term," he told Howey. "This just sealed it."

Though Souder's district has a strong Republican lean, he was held to a surprisingly narrow eight-point margin in 2006 by Democrat Tom Hayhurst, who is running for the seat again this year. Souder won reelection by 15 points in 2008.